Today in History (1862) - The U.S. government forbids all Union army officers from returning fugitive slaves, thus effectively annulling the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 and setting the stage for the Emancipation Proclamation. On the same day in 1865, the Confederate Congress voted to enlist 300,000 black troops, granting them freedom with the consent of their owners. Lee surrendered a few weeks later.

July 13, 2005

Then There's the Self-Deprecating Type

by PG

As Jason quoted, Robert Bork judged the justices of the Supreme Court to be "lack[ing] any guidance other than their own attempts at moral philosophy, a task for which they have not even minimal skills." Bork's own moral preferences seem rather clear, including his bias against "normaliz[ing] homosexuality." In light of this latest instance of someone who ought to know better pretending that Lawrence applied only to same-sex sodomy, consider me to be a homosexual.

I'm more inclined to be amused by the kind of humor displayed by a New Hampshire judge dealing with local law enforcement's using criminal trespass charges to deal with illegal immigrants:

"Am I going to determine whether someone is here legally or not?" [Judge L. Phillips Runyon III] asked the prosecutor. "Isn't that what the federal immigration system is for? Is it for part-time district court judges like me who know nothing about immigration and arguably nothing much about anything else either?"

(It's pretty old news; the undocumented worker in question pleaded guilty to two charges and agreed to report to immigration authorities.)